Waller Air Force Base
Waller Air Force Base
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| Part of Sixth Air Force | |
| Located in Trinidad and Tobago | |
 Waller AFB
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| Coordinates | 10°36′48.87″N 061°12′48.30″W / 10.6135750°N 61.2134167°WCoordinates: 10°36′48.87″N 061°12′48.30″W / 10.6135750°N 61.2134167°W |
| Type | Military airfield |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1941-1949 |
Waller Air Force Base is a former United States Army Air Forces World War II air base located in northeastern Trinidad. It is located about 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Valencia south of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and roughly 32 km from the capital city Port of Spain.
The American rights to the airfield were obtained via the Destroyers for Bases Agreement in September 1940 when the United States transferred fifty destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for Army and Navy base rights on British possessions in the Americas.
In 1941, Trinidad was alarmed by a large number of Nazi U-Boats prowling of its coastline, intent on disrupting British shipping in the Caribbean Sea, and using the Vichy French controlled island of Martinique as a possible supply facility. Although the first United States Army personnel arrived on Trinidad on 24 April 1941, it was only after the United States' entry into the war, that Allied planners, in early 1942, decided to counter the Nazi threat by establishing major air and naval facilities on Trinidad.
Waller Army Airfield was activated on 1 September 1941 with the assignment of the 92d Service Group. The unit's mission was to establish a flying facility within the United States Army Fort Read post. The unit consisted of the group's Headquarters, and the 92d Air Base and 309th Material Squadrons. The group was assigned to the Caribbean Air Force.
Waller Field was named after United States Army Air Corps Major Alfred J. Waller, a distinguished World War I combat pilot, killed in the crash of a Consolidated PB-2A at Langley Field on 11 December 1937. The airfield was intended to have four runways, but the two southern ones were cancelled due to the nature of the ground.
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